Redhouse - Live at the Southside Six Hotel, Moorabbin 31-5-1975 (Bootleg)

(Australian 1972 - 1978)

The very well-known, well-travelled and heavily rocking 'Red House Roll Band' were Geelong’s most successful outfit in the early 70s. Formed in 1972, they provided a very theatrical stage show (along the lines of Alice Cooper) with band members dressing up in skeleton suits or Superman outfits.

Original band members were: 

John Ferguson – Lead Guitar/Lead Vocals, Malcolm Donnelly – Lead Guitar/Vocals, Jack Green – Bass/Vocals and Monty Osewald/Claude Ragone – Drums

Red-House-Roll-Band 1972-73

Fully professional for most of that period they appeared locally at the Barwon Heads, Torquay, Sundowner and Golf View Hotels. In Melbourne they appeared at the Croxton Park, Waltzing Matilda, Southside Six and Whitehorse Hotels as well as the weekly dances at Powerhouse and suburban Town Halls.

They toured country Victoria and nationally to Perth, Sydney and Newcastle. A big highlight was a Melbourne Town Hall gig with Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs. This powerhouse band re-formed to play at the 2019 Geelong Musos’ Reunion with Alan Williams on bass/vocals.

They supported most of the major artists of the time and also appeared at the famous Sunbury Music Festival.

In 1973, the band signed a record deal with Atlantic, which resulted in the single "O Lucky Man" (B-Side was Movin' On). Taken from the British feature film of the same name, the band's version of Alan Price's song became a regional hit. But the band went into hibernation and re-emerged in late 1975 under the shorter name 'Redhouse', with a completely revised line-up comprising Jack Green, John Dallimore, Jacques De Jongh and Gary Crothall. 

Redhouse 1975

Here's some tracks (ripped to MP3) from Redhouse recorded live at the Southside Six Hotel, Moorabbin, Victoria on a drunken Saturday afternoon (or night, can't remember) 31-5-1975. 

Taped on a cheap cassette player, the taper must have been sitting next to John Dallimore's amp 'cause you can hear mainly guitar and not much else. Therefore the recording isn't great, but it is what it is and captures the band during the early stages of their development before they hit the lime light under the shortened name 'Redhouse', releasing their hit album "One More Squeeze" in 1976. [See earlier post]

Track List:

01 - China Grove
02 - Zubulu
03 - BHP
04 - Upsetter
05 - Love is Strange
06 - Boogie 1
07 - Hotfeet
08 - Endless Lady
09 - Got Away
10 - Lovely Lady
11 - Aint Gonna See You Babe
12 - Boogie 2
13 - Demons Eye
14 - Let it Rock

* Thanks to Keith at Midoztouch for RIP

Redhouse Were:
John Ferguson (lead vocals, guitar),
John Dallimore (lead guitar, vocals),
Jacques De Jongh (rhythm guitar, vocals),
Gary Crothall (drums),
Jack Green (bass)

Bonus Single (1973)  FLACs

01 O Lucky Man - Redhouse Roll Band

02 Movin' On - Redhouse Roll Band

Redhouse Link (185Mb)

Redhouse Videos

1. Redhouse Roll Band - Live in Geelong (featuring 17 yr old John Dallimore)

2. Red House Roll Band audio from Blind Date TV show with some cool stills of the band .

Red House Roll Band live in 1974 playing “China Grove” on Melbourne’s channel 7 - Blind Date program. The audio was recorded straight from the TV set to a cassette tape recorder at the time the program was aired. And, the pics are some that I had on a small strip of washed out coloured proofs that I had archived. From left to right in the first pic: (top row) John Ferguson vocals & guitar, John Dallimore guitar (and below) Peter Quince drums, and Jack Green bass - hope a few people might enjoy this piece of history that dates back almost 50 years [Thanks to John Ferguson for posting this video on his facebook]

3. This video clip was taken at the Sundowner Hotel in Geelong on super 8 movie film by Peter Nell - the sound track is one of several original songs that were recorded in 1974 (at Greg Bee’s studio) in Geelong on a 4 track tape recording unit and was supplied by Rodney Kenyon who had hung on to the original tapes. The song is called, “Scarborough Beach Song”. John Ferguson wrote the song in Perth W/A while on tour with the band, in admiration of the beautiful sunsets that he saw on the WA ocean skylines. The lineup in the poster below (from L to R back) Peter Quince, Jack Green (from L to R front) John Dallimore, and John Ferguson